Nora's P.O.V
Life rolled around me on a cassette tape, when I'd go to sleep it would rewind and when I woke up, it would press play. Like every other day, my routine never changed. I woke up because of my alarm clock ringing at an ungodly hour, I'd want to sleep in for at least a few extra minutes, I'd eventually get out of bed to brush my teeth and take a long bath, and then I'd get changed into some office clothing.
The only difference throughout this entire step-by-step was that today my office clothing consisted of black office pants, red heels and a red blouse paired to a black blazer. Unfortunately, it seemed that today I'd start with a struggle with my own hair. For certain women, such as myself, hair was their worst nightmare, and no amount of luck could provide me with a good hairdo when I desperately needed one. After a long fight and a ton of cursing I somehow managed to tame it long enough to shove the hair into a bun with some stray wisps falling lazily to the side of my face.
My motto for today was going to be: If Elijah wanted to be the devil, I'd start being one too because after all it takes two to tango. It would provide me with enough motivation to control my patience with someone who liked to push all my wrong buttons.
Once I'd finished getting ready, I heard the cheery tone of mom calling me to come downstairs and have some breakfast but one glance at the alarm clock told me I wouldn't have time for any food if I wanted to keep my job. Mom yelled a second time and I hurried to collect my belongings before rushing down the stairs and passing into the kitchen.
The energising tunes of the radio sang in the background of the room. A humming added itself to the original singer alongside the clattering of dishes. It was followed by the sound of movement which made me suspiciously peak past the door to be shocked into a standstill. There, in the middle of the kitchen, whilst Nina was chomping on some cereal, was mom dancing cheerily as she cooked some noodles for breakfast.
It wasn't the fact that she was making noodles that shocked me, it was the fact that she was dancing this early in the morning like she'd just drank three energy drinks. 'How does she find the willpower to be so...', I couldn't even find the word to describe her behaviour.
"Mom... Are you okay?" I cautiously asked her. She swayed her hips in time with the music and turned to me with a grin on her face.
"Of course! Good morning!" She beamed in reply. I grimaced at her and turned to the fridge, pouring myself a glass of orange juice before I moved to the bread bin and took some brown bread to toast.
"Don't get me wrong, but shouldn't you be hungover and complaining and regretting your life decisions?" I asked her suspiciously. The timer on the toaster counted down and I watched as mom heartily laughed before she added some sauce and spices to the noodles.
"Darling, I'm a nurse, I can figure out what medication works best to cure a hangover. Besides, what is there to regret in my life right now?" She retorted juggling her wok pan and adding some more herbs that aromatically made me drool.
“Mom’s thinking about her date with Arthur Aldrich”, Nina playfully suggested as she wiggled her eyebrows and mom threw a tea towel at Nina's face.
"Young girl, I am not thinking about Dr Arthur! I was just dancing, my gosh, what's so wrong with that?" Mom asked us innocently and Nina laughed whilst I smirked knowingly.
"Yeah, sure mom, I never did ask though, how did your date go with Arthur?" I interviewed her as Nina faced mom with an inquisitive glance whilst mom blushed and avoided our gazes.
"It went well. We grabbed a coffee, ordered some food at the café, and we had plenty to talk about. Did you know Dr Arthur used to compete in rowing?" Mom asked us with a bewildered expression before she realised, she was rambling, so she coughed and continued, "After that we ended up going for a nice walk along the canals and then we went and got dinner at a restaurant. At that point I may have had too much to drink because I was nervous, so I think I might have ruined the night..." She trailed off and Nina burst out bellowing in humour as I face palmed and shook my head.
The toaster chimed and the bread popped up. I collected them and buttered them in heaven before biting into them enthusiastically. I didn't bother sitting down at the table, I knew if I did, I'd end up never leaving for work and Elijah would have another bitch fit at me. Then again, nothing beat breakfast quite like some buttered toast, it was simply delightful, and work could wait, one cannot just rush buttered toast.
"You know, somehow I think your little mishap might have actually made Arthur like you even more. He's really goofy, kind of like you", I explained to mom who shied from the topic and turned the gas stove off. She pummelled the noodles onto a plate and then sat down at the table.
"What happened after I got drunk?" Mom asked us embarrassingly whilst Nina looked up and grinned. I knew for a fact my little sister was enjoying this torture that she was providing our mom. She was going to completely humiliate her in a minute.
"Where do we even begin?" Nina wondered out loud as mom groaned in return and Nina continued, "So, Arthur brought you back home and sat you down on the sofa where you kept muttering about lobsters and Sebastian... You know that lobster from Ariel?" Nina prompted to which mom covered her face with her hands and made some grunting noises of disgust.
"I did not actually do that, please tell me I didn't and you're just joking with me", mom asked in pain.
"Oh, you did it alright, all while Arthur was listening in the room and sipping on some Pepsi", I replied before chuckling at mom's expression and moving to the sink to wash my plate and glass.
"And after that Nene ended up threatening Arthur before he got scared and ran off!" Nina irrelevantly added making me scowl in her direction whilst mom scolded me for my actions.
"You did what?!" Mom shrieked. I shrugged my shoulders nonchalantly and continued washing the dishes.
"I just don't want some man to break your heart again, you're worth much more than being treated like dirt once again", I explained earning a quiet response from mom who sat back in her chair and sighed.
"Girls, I can handle this by myself. You don't have to worry about me, okay? Focus on yourselves so you can be smart and successful in life."
"Yes mom", both Nina and I replied with an air of defeat before mom clasped her hands together and began munching on her food.
"Let's not forget about the fact Arthur said he had a crush on mom", Nina added sneakily as she watched mom's expression go rigid and she raised her head to watch us, a noodle hanging off her bottom lip before she sucked it up into her mouth.
"He said what?" She asked.
"He said he had a crush on you, and he wanted to see where it would go", Nina developed as mom shifted in her seat and coughed a few times before she settled and tried to gracefully appear calm.
"Oh, that's nice to know."
"Anyways, I'll be off to work now and Nina, stop antagonizing mom, okay? Let the poor woman relax before work, she's going to have to face the man in her dreams in a bit", I added innocently earning myself a chuckle from Nina and a disdainful look from mom.
"Oh, quit it, already. I get it, my love life should be a comedy film", mom surrendered, and I laughed, ruffling Nina's hair, and giving my mom a quick hug.
"Bye guys, have a good day at school and mom don't go to work, take the day off!" I added, leaving into the hallway, putting my coat on, and walking out the door. I could hear Nina's whines that she'd had her hair ruined and would need to spend another twenty minutes redoing the hairstyle whilst mom wished me luck at work and completely ignored Nina.
The office was bustling with viciousness as I stepped past the elevator and came across Naomi speaking to another female colleague of ours. I didn't want to interrupt their conversation so when Naomi glanced at me, I merely waved in her direction and continued on my merry way. However, she ended up cutting her conversation with the other woman and catching up to me as we strolled through the hallways.
"Hey, good luck with Elijah today. He's in a really heated mood, twenty times worse than he usually is. Thought he was the devil before, well, now he's the devil on steroids", Naomi warned making me warily watch her.
My nerves started to fizzle in apprehension, and I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck raising at the suggestion of Elijah and his temper. 'The devil on steroids, how much worse could he possibly be?' I wondered as we came closer to my office.
Once we'd stepped inside Naomi closed the door and slumped into the chair opposite my desk. I dropped my bag onto the desk and sidled my coat off my shoulders, tucking the wisps of stray hair behind my ears.
"Why is he angry?" I asked her, putting my hands on my hips, and cocking my head to the side. Naomi shrugged her shoulders, sighing tiredly, to then fiddle with her clothes before she stood up and replied.
"Don't know and I'm not really sure I want to care. He's already berated Jackson for some error in printing one of the documents wrong", Naomi finished, and she wished me good luck until she stepped out of my office and hurried back to her desk trying to avoid any signs of Elijah's dooming presence.
'Oh, dear Lord, if Jackson got scolded then I'm definitely going to get myself fired this time round', I concluded. See, Jackson was a shy man who was overly friendly and helpful in the office. He went out of his way to help everyone with any issues or questions they had but as much as he was helpful, he didn't have the answers to everything, and he might be a little clumsy once in a while. In my opinion though, actions as little as printing a document wrong weren't justified reasons for getting yelled at in front of the whole office floor.
I left my room and headed towards Elijah's with the intent to be extra polite and extra respectful and yet when I knocked on his door, waited a few minutes and didn't get a response, any and all measures to not piss him off flew out the window. Instead, I entered his office without his permission and simply made my way to his desk. 'I can't stand there all day waiting for him to do something, the least he could do was say come in or go away', I huffed in irritation.
Standing in front of the window which was located behind his desk was Elijah who stared at the city below him with a distant aura emitting from around his presence. He didn't acknowledge me, not for a while anyways, but he eventually inclined his head to see who had entered his room without his go ahead. Today, he'd opted for grey office pants, black leather shoes, a grey office blazer and a blue shirt that had a grey tie adorning his slender neck.
'What's underneath that shirt?' I creatively tried to figure out, conjuring images up that I'd probably never get the answer to.
"Why are you always late Miss Jones? If you want to carry on working here you have to be punctual", Elijah chided exasperatedly, still ignoring me and staring out at the view. I didn't bother excusing my behaviour or providing him a reason. In a way he was right, but it was only 10 minutes that I was late. 'I was using a cab so blame the driver not me', I wanted to scream at him but the silence in the room seemed like a safer option.
Elijah sighed annoyed before he demanded, "I don't like people staring at me blankly, bring me my coffee."
I quickly diverted my eyes towards the floor, avoiding his gaze when he turned around and sat in his chair. He opened up his laptop and started furiously typing on it. I nodded my head in submission and exited the room at breakneck speed. Naomi wasn't kidding when she mentioned he'd have an attitude problem today.
'Why is he so angry though?' I wanted to find out. I followed through with his order and walked to the coffee machine to make the drink. Naomi had informed me about Elijah's preferences when it came to how he enjoyed it. He liked it black with no sugar, 'exactly like his soul', I humoured. As the machine whirled and produced the guzzling hot scent of roasted coffee beans I inhaled deeply before shuddering at the fact that it had no milk and no sugar. I hated coffee without sugar but apparently Elijah hated anything that was sweet in his life.
I didn't see Anna anywhere, but that was one of the best things about working on the eighth floor when she worked mostly in the cafeteria area, I never had to see her. I picked up the cup of coffee and gingerly held it whilst I made my way back to my boss's office, careful to avoid spilling it onto anyone that crossed my way. It was a tedious task to say the least. Once I reappeared at the office, I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly before I struggled to knock on the door but managed.
"Come in already and stop knocking so annoyingly", Elijah shouted making me jump and nearly spill the coffee all over myself. I glared at the door hoping that lazy beam eyes would obliterate him for that rude comment he'd made. I stepped through however and placed the cup of coffee on his table. Elijah was still typing at his laptop and ignoring me, so I deemed it safe to leave. I turned away from his desk and tried to inch my way to the door inconspicuously but when the door handle was within my grasp, Elijah spoke up.
"Miss Jones, did I give you permission to leave?" He asked me sternly and I grimaced before turning around yet again to see a stoic expression masking Elijah's true feeling. Although with the devil being in front of me, I doubted that he had any feelings whatsoever. Goosebumps rose up my arms and chill spent across my spine.
"No, sir, what else can I help you with?" I politely asked, gritting my teeth painfully. 'Remember the motto: If Elijah wanted to be the devil, then I'd start being one too', I tried to tell myself, but it was getting harder and harder to believe those words.
"Take these documents and add all of the information onto our system, put the details in a separate online file where I can easily access it", Elijah demanded, handing me the documents ungratefully whilst I grabbed them and checked the names on the papers. They were the names of all the interns we had accepted into the company from a few months back that had stayed and not ran from Elijah.
These documents weren't one-page papers, these were thick, back-to-back documents that would take me a good half a day get through depending on whether or not I'd take my breaks and do other roles around the office. If I sat down and wasn't interrupted with anything then at the most it would take me six hours to get through.
"Er, I'm sorry but I need to leave early today, and these documents will take a long time to process", I informed Elijah hesitantly. He stopped typing but didn't look up, almost as if time had stopped in the room before it resumed, and Elijah glared menacingly in my direction. If hell existed, I was pretty sure I'd be living there at this fine moment in time.
"You will leave this floor when I let you leave this floor! Ugh, I don't want to see your face any longer! Get out of my office and finish your work before I fire you!" Elijah threatened me with the loudest voice he could muster. ‘Think of the money, it’s all about the money… family, rent, money, that’s it.’ The distaste evident in his voice had me scowling before I abruptly turned on my heels and left the office making sure to slam the door forcefully enough that I heard Elijah's bookcase topple a few novels to the ground. I could Elijah cursing under his breath through the door, but he didn't come after me and try to murder me, no, instead he just left me alone to do my work.
I moved back over to my office and sat in front of the laptop provided by the company for the workers here. I was tired with Elijah and his behaviour but no amount of complaining would change his actions or change his opinions so instead I started the work and knuckled down. I still needed to meet with Elian, but I guess if I hurried up, I could still make it.
Page after page, I turned through the documents and manually inputted the details onto our system. Realistically this should have been a job for our technicians, but I guess this was my punishment for frustrating Elijah. After what seemed like forever, I had finished the work. With a posture that took on the most relieved posture ever, I leaned back in my chair. My muscles protested heavily at the movement but after some stretching in my seat, my body loosened up. I glanced towards the clock hanging in the corner of the room and was satisfied to find that I still had some time to meet Elian.
Most of the workers on the office floor were already gone, the hallways were eerily quiet, the machines were inactive, and the coffee machine wasn't releasing any aromatic scents. It was pretty much empty. I moved through the hallways with my guard up ready for anything to jump out at me, but as I neared Elijah's room, I was suddenly aware that if I should be scared of anything in particular it should be him.
I knocked on his door and waited this time for Elijah to give me the go ahead. Sure enough, after a few seconds he gave me permission to enter and the sight before me made me shatter. There Elijah sat in front of his laptop, his eyes tiredly drooping, and a yawn escaping his mouth. He had black bags under his eyes, and he had removed his blazer so that it hung on the back of his chair. All I could see was his blue shirt and tie hanging loosely around his neck with the first button undone. Elijah still pushed himself to work, not that he would have stopped anyways. He was a workaholic.
"I've done the work sir; can I leave now?" I asked him. Elijah sighed in defeat and leaned back in his chair to watch me. I was pretty sure that I didn't look any better than Elijah and right now I didn't really care about my appearance, I just wanted to leave and go visit Elian at the café.
"Where do you want to go so badly? Why are you so eager to leave?" He asked me suspiciously. I fiddled with my clothing and shifted in my place uncomfortably. I wasn't sure it was appropriate to tell him that his brother wanted to meet me at a café for a discussion, but I wasn't sure what else I could have made up. I mean, this was my boss and Elian's brother and if I told him that then he'd think it was a date and that was the exact opposite of the truth. I just needed to ask some questions about Ben.
I didn't answer Elijah in time because he ended up offering me a deal, "I'll dismiss you, if you tell me where you're going."
His gaze was tantalisingly piercing my soul, and I suddenly felt vulnerable in front of him. 'God he's handsome when he looks at me like that but he's still a dickwad', I noted as my body heated up from his stormy eyes. It was like he was undressing me with his eyes and ravaging me in a way I was sure would be considered unprofessional, but he never made a move, so I coughed uncomfortably.
"I-", I wasn't sure what to say but I ended up mysteriously mentioning, "It's my personal life."
I wanted to face slap myself for such a pathetic excuse, but I wasn't thinking, and his eyes were pressuring me to reply as quickly as possible. Although technically I wasn't lying, this was about my personal life, and I didn't want to share it with him. Some things were better kept private from your boss.
"Was that a real reason or just some made up lie, Miss Jones?" Elijah asked me expectantly.
"Sir, I don't feel comfortable telling you the real reason, but I promise you that it's the truth. This has to do with my personal life", I told him pleadingly. I didn't want to beg to be released but he was relentless with his attack.
"I don't care if you're uncomfortable. You showed up to work late and now you want to leave early. Why should I excuse that kind of behaviour?" He questioned me to the point where I wanted to groan in frustration and give up.
"Okay, then I'll show up to work early tomorrow and I'll start showing up on time just please let me go already!" I started to raise my voice higher and louder.
"Have you told me the full reason?" Elijah taunted me and I stomped my feet in anger before sizing him up.
"I am not telling you the real reason so just let me go!" I indignantly exclaimed.
"No, you can't go" Elijah smirked devilishly with a glint in his eyes. He was taking full advantage of being the boss and ordering me around right now, but I wasn't going to take it any longer. I rolled my eyes disdainfully at him and then morphed my face into a flat expression.
"You can't be serious right now, this is an urgent matter that I need to attend to", I replied meaningly but Elijah simply shrugged his shoulders and looked back at his laptop.
"I don't really care, Miss Jones. Either you tell me your reason for leaving early or you can continue to work until the early hours of the morning when I leave the office", he retorted as I cursed internally at the offer before realising that I had no other choice but to obey him.
"Fine. I had something private to ask Mr Elian, so he invited me to meet him at the Blue Box Café" I finally revealed to Elijah who went rigid and stared at me weirdly. His facial expression changed, and I wasn't sure whether he was shocked or angry at my revelations. I saw him clenching his fist tightly till his knuckles turned white whilst he raised an eyebrow in my direction as if expecting me to reveal more to him.
I didn't stay any longer, the deal was complete. I informed him of my reasons and now I was allowed to leave so I could carry out the meeting. Turning around and stepping closer to door I didn't expect Elijah to call my name out again.
"Miss Jones?" His voice had turned as icy as the snow caps in Antarctica, and I was sure he'd frozen me in place with the power of his tone, "I forbid you to leave. You still need to do some work for me."
I turned back around and glared evilly in his direction before turning and stomping my way aggressively out of the office into my own. 'He can't be serious! Is he serious?' I wondered, raking my fingers through my hair as the bun came loose and knotted from the movement. I was pacing in my own office, but it did little to calm me down.
'I'm not staying here, I can't', I decided but since Elijah was my boss I sat back down in my chair and stared out my window. ‘Think of the money Nora, you’re trying to help your mom and sister out, you’re saving towards a better future for them and the next rent payment that’s due soon. Concentrate on the money.’ It was dark already and the city lights were brightly glowing for me to watch. I called it with the fact that I knew today was going to be busy as hell.
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